{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":1753,"auction_id":3,"set_id":4,"lot_number":"62","artist":"Lao Lianben (b. 1948)","title":"Monk's House","starting_price":5000000,"signed_dated":"signed (lower left and verso) and dated 2013 (verso)","medium":"acrylic, charcoal on canvas","size":"96\" x 67.2\" (244 cm x 171 cm)","property":null,"coa":null,"provenance":null,"exhibited":"Blanc Gallery, Black Water: A Monk's Dream, Quezon City, May 9 - 30, 2015","literature":"Lianben, Lao. Black Water: A Monk's Dream. Published to accompany Lao Lianben's exhibition of the same title. Quezon City: Blanc Art Space, 2015. Full color illustration on page 31 and painting description on page 30. Listed as \"10 \"Monk's House'\" in the book's annotations at the back","write_up":"In viewing Lao Lianben’s works, a myriad of thoughts, explanations, concepts, and notions are sure to be conceived by the viewer. Leovino Ma. Garcia writes in the accompanying monograph for Lao’s 2015 exhibition Black Water: A Monk’s Dream, the show where the work at hand titled Monk’s House was among those featured:
“Take time to listen deeply to these paintings. Bestow them “that purest and rarest form of generosity”—attention. Be drawn into a silence that speaks of compassion and joy.
“Lao Lianben continues to will only one thing—to render what is “invisible to the eyes.” Like the empty bowl of a Buddhist monk, his paintings here, in their bare simplicity, offer an inexhaustible feast for thought.”
True enough, profoundly understanding Lao’s works means encountering in our innermost selves that innate affinity to engage in a sublime meditation basked in utmost composure and tranquility, in which the mind, body, and spirit all join in perfect harmony.
And what is the perfect place to revel intimately in that exalted act of solace and peace than in the comforts of our private havens—our homes, our refuge—where we can be in our most uninhibited. It is a purifying abode where we can disconnect from the painful travails and tribulations of the world and set foot in a reposeful realm, where a sanctum for spiritual enlightenment and rebirth awaits. Lao’s Monk’s House evocatively depicts that experience.
The work’s subject is as straightforward as its title. Lao depicts a serene landscape characterized by a village situated in the highlands, as evident in the imposing figure of a mountain that dwarfs the houses. Here, serenity and unceasing meditation abound.
The viewer’s attention is then shifted to the image of a table, where the entire “village” seemingly rests. Hence, a new way of seeing is enkindled. When viewed from an ample distance, the composition as a whole becomes a vast space of monochromes. The subject now becomes an object of meditation, a spiritual medium/altar through which we can peacefully convey and express all our personal struggles, whether concealed or apparent, our needs and wants, our emotions and notions, to enkindle harmony and oneness amid all conflicts and contradictions.
The composition is enigmatic in form yet spiritually explicit. It reveals itself to those who are willing to be enveloped by the spirit of Zen. It has been said at the beginning of this essay that Lao’s works “offer an inexhaustible feast for thought.” Thus, discerning this work is like immersing oneself in monastic silence and prayer, an expression of spiritual strengthening, respite, and quiet introspection. The viewer becomes a monk of their own, possessing that inherent faculty to silently ponder, philosophize, and commune with the soul.
Engulf oneself in the stillness of the self. Quietly gaze at the work. Meditate. Listen to the voice within. Bask in the absorbing, intimate embrace of the spirit. Be drifted away to another world, where harmony is ever-present, and return more strengthened than ever. Thus, meditation becomes a cathartic and transformative act in which the spirituality and the self will eventually appear in their most immaculate. (A.M.)","lot_group":"PAINTING","lot_details_html":"
Lao Lianben (b. 1948) Monk's House signed (lower left and verso) and dated 2013 (verso) acrylic, charcoal on canvas 96\" x 67.2\" (244 cm x 171 cm)